Sakhir 2020, a crazy race featuring misfortune for Mercedes and Checo's first win
The Sakhir circuit can be regarded as a mainstay of Formula 1 these days, having staged 21 races since 2004, the year of the very first Bahrain Grand Prix. It marked the debut of the blue riband category in the Middle East, which today hosts no fewer than four rounds of the championship, the other three in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
The Bahrain International Circuit soon also became a popular testing venue, chosen independently by the teams when testing was still unrestricted and later, since 2021, becoming the venue for the official pre-season tests. The only time the race was cancelled was in 2011, due to civil unrest in the country just weeks before the Grand Prix was due to take place.
So how come there have still been 21 races held on this island in the Persian Gulf? Think back to 2020 in the middle of the Covid pandemic. Formula 1 pulled off the remarkable feat of putting together a 17 race championship across 12 countries from July to December, despite it being a logistical nightmare. That year, Bahrain hosted two races on consecutive weekends, the first being the Bahrain Grand Prix on 29 November, the second went by the name of the Sakhir Grand Prix on 6 December. It was the third time that year that F1 staged consecutive events at the same venue, following on from those in Spielberg and Silverstone, but in the desert, the races were run on two different layouts, taking advantage of this facility at Sakhir.
Actually, a different and longer 6.229 kilometre layout had been tried in 2010, but it proved unpopular with the drivers and TV producers, so the original layout was back the following year, and has never changed since. The second race in 2020 used the layout known as the Outer Ring, much shorter at just 3.543 km, which delivered a very unusual race with a very unusual outcome. Let's start with the absentees. A terrifying crash the previous Sunday ruled out Romain Grosjean, replaced at Haas by Pietro Fittipaldi. Then Covid sidelined the newly-crowned seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton, replaced by George Russell, who was released by Williams on this occasion to drive for Mercedes. In turn, he was replaced by fellow Brit, Jack Aitken. For Hamilton this was the first race he had missed after 265 consecutive starts, a record that still stands today. Since then, the driver who joined Ferrari as of this season, has taken part in a further 94 Grands Prix.
The short, almost oval-shaped track, delivered the fastest ever pole position lap time in the history of the sport. In Q3, Valtteri Bottas set a time of 53”377, over five seconds quicker than the 58”79 set by Niki Lauda at Dijon for the French Grand Prix of 1974, at an average speed of 238.957 km/h. Even the number of laps, 87, spoke of days gone by, as not since Adelaide in 1995 had a race distance required so many to be completed.
The race was, to put it mildly, chaotic with Sergio Perez emerging as the winner, having dropped to the back of the field on the opening lap, after been hit by Charles Leclerc in an incident that also took out Max Verstappen. The Mexican, who had only just announced that he did not have a contract for the following season, produced an incredible drive to secure his maiden Formula 1 win, the only one for the Racing Point team that became Aston Martin the following year. For the team owned by Lawrence Stroll, it was its best result under that name and also it's best ever, as in the other car, his son Lance Stroll came home third. One wonders how much the Aston Martin boss would pay to see that result repeated these days. Splitting the two Racing Point cars, was France's Esteban Ocon, second in the Renault to claim his first ever podium finish.
For George Russell, in the early stages of his career, this Grand Prix will always be a heartbreaking memory. The Englishman had an incredible opportunity to win on his Mercedes debut, but he was let down by a rare mistake from the team's pit crew. On lap 63, there was a Safety Car period caused when Aitken had an off-track excursion. Russell was leading Bottas at the time as Mercedes called both its drivers in for a tyre change. But the crew fitted Bottas's tyres to the Englishman's car, causing chaos, the Finn losing time because of a wheel issue. So Russell had to pit again to change tyres in order to avoid getting a penalty. Nevertheless, Hamilton's stand-in managed to close on the new leader, Perez, but a puncture on lap 79 meant he had to make yet another pit stop. He fought his way back up to eighth, setting an impressive fastest race lap in 55”404, another all-time record, beating Jody Scheckter's sub-minute lap, again at Dijon in '74. It was a powerful statement of Russell's talent.
